I recalled that there had been a flight of capital from South Africa after the Sharpeville massacre, but investments were resumed as soon as the apartheid regime was able to "stabilise" the situation by brutal repression.

It was useless to preach to him about the sanctity of contract, for had not Government itself, he declared, set the example of a gross breach of contract by undertaking and then failing to "stabilise" its own rupee currency?

In announcing his replacement by another high-profile general, David Petraeus, credited for the military surge in Iraq, which the US claims has helped "stabilise" the country, Mr Obama made sure the blunder is not equated with a policy change.